Rimantas has suggested that there may be actual data
relevant to "finger RNAses". Can anyone point out any
such references?
Apparently, my own assay, which consited of tipping a
microcentrifuge tube against my finger tip and shaking it
-removing 10ul to a tube containing 2 ug of RNA markers
and incubating 30 min at 37C (which was negative for me
and a collegue) may not have been sensitive enough to
detect the proposed low levesl of RNAse acrtivity.
Any one else care to try? Rimanats suggest putting
20ul water on a fingertip directly and testing that for RNAse
action on an RNA standard. (I'll do it shortly too).
Jim
J. Graham PhD
Biology Department
Washington University of St. Louis